Recently, a large-capacity magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) using magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements has been proposed and is attracting attention. In an MTJ element, one of two magnetic layers that sandwich a tunnel barrier layer is set as a magnetization fixed layer (reference layer) where the direction of magnetization is fixed in order not to be changed, and the other layer is set as a magnetization free layer (storage layer) where the direction of magnetization is made to be easily inverted.